First public presentation of this latest project of mine is done, and after all I am very pleased with the feedback I received over the long weekend in Gex in October last year. As I do not have regular exhibitions it is always very special event for me. The closer it became to opening ceremony, the doubtful I was. The voice in my head was constantly asking the unpleasant questions “how people will react to it?”, “will they understand?”, “will they find it interesting?” etc. These questions were permanently on my mind, as it is impossible to hide behind computer screen and internet anonymity during the exhibition. I have to face and talk to real people who give me immediate verdict about my work.
This time my fear was exaggerated by the fact that this project is something different from my usual landscape photography. I am aiming to express something more than usual view on landscape, I am trying to reveal hidden world of small things without any direct guidance to what to look for in the photograph. I want the viewers to see and find their own things and interpretations. To that goal I also adjusted the whole printing process and the final photographs are quite small 18x14 cm only.
Title: Small World 23, Camera: Mamiya RB 67 Pro SD, Lens: Sekor 50 mm, Film: Kodak Tri-x 400, Exposure: 120", f 16, Chamonix, France, 2015
At the end I was actually quite happy, as I received a lot of positive reactions from people and other photographers. I also got a lot of good advices, which I am sure will help me with the future exhibitions. I was also happy to see that people appreciated the fact that my photographs are still printed in traditional darkroom, and I left this event full of new energy and encouragement for my future photography adventures.
Title: Small World 33, Camera: Mamiya RB 67 Pro SD, Lens: Sekor 50 mm, Film: Kodak T-Max 100, Exposure: 1/15, f 16, Iceland, 2014
For those of you who were not able to see the real prints I just updated my Small World gallery on our website with the electronic versions ☺. I am ready to move forward with new projects, which have slowly evolved from Small World. Let’s see how it goes.